Leave it to an Oregonian bluegrass picker to set up Honduras’s first microbrewery and hostel in the middle of the God-blessed jungle. What better excuse can you come up with to trek over to the west side of Lago de Yojoa, than to lounge in hammocks in the middle of a coffee plantation, swilling a dark mug of porter? Also available are a variety of ales, a rotation of fruity brews (including mango and coffee), and homemade root beer, blueberry soda, and cream soda.

This is the D&D Brewery (tel. 504/9994-9719, www.dd-brewery.com), the vision of Robert Dale, who is also always looking for fellow guitarists to come by and pick with him. There is one large cabin with several small guest rooms (US$9.50 s, US$13 d) that are rather basic (each has a private bathroom, which in some cases just means the toilet is tucked behind a shower curtain inside the room), but all have fans and hot water. Tucked into the foliage are three private cabins, still fairly simple, but each has a nice porch with a hammock (US$26 for two people, US$37 for four). There are also dorm-style accommodations, or those really saving their lempiras can use a hammock or pitch a tent for US$2, with use of a hot shower and bathroom facilities.

An open-air restaurant lines the small swimming pool, where Bob and his Honduran wife serve heaping burger plates, chicken quesadillas, corn dogs, and more, for US$2.50–6. Although few rave about the beer, the chocolate chip cookies are out of this world, and locally made breads, jellies, wines, homegrown coffee, house-made sodas, and even hibiscus champagne are also sold out of the restaurant.

Bob can set you up with top-notch bird-watching trips on Lago de Yojoa and in the Santa Bárbara park, rents mountain bikes for US$5.25 a day, and can arrange fly-fishing excursions as well.

Resident ornithologist Malcolm Glasgow can take visitors on guided bird tours: US$8 per person for a local walk, US$9–12 per person for a tour by rowboat on the lake, or US$16–32 pp for a hike in the cloud forest of the Santa Bárbara National Park. There’s plenty of good birding for non-experts, with easily spotted hawks and herons on the lake, and a good chance of seeing a toucan.

Getting to D&D Brewery

D&D is a couple kilometers up a spur road in the town of Los Naranjos, three kilometers south of Peña Blanca near the lake. From San Pedro Sula, buses to El Mochito go right past the entrance to the brewery (US$1.60). From Tegucigalpa, buses to Las Vegas pass in front of it as well. From Peña Blanca, buses and taxis charge US$0.40 to drop you off a few minutes’ walk away at the end of the road.